:social engineering: n. Term used among {cracker}s and
{samurai} for cracking techniques that rely on weaknesses in
{wetware} rather than software; the aim is to trick people into
revealing passwords or other information that compromises a target
system's security. Classic scams include phoning up a mark who has
the required information and posing as a field service tech or a
fellow employee with an urgent access problem. See also the
{tiger team} story in the {patch} entry.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
amurai: n. A hacker who hires out for legal cracking job
snooping for factions in corporate political fights, lawyers
pursuing privacy-rights and First Amendment cases, and other
parties with legitimate reasons to need an electronic locksmith....
cracking: n. The act of breaking into a computer system what a
{cracker} does. Contrary to widespread myth, this does not
usually involve some mysterious leap of hackerly brilliance, but
rather persistence and the dogged repetition of a handful of fairly
well-known tricks that exploit common weaknesses in the security of
target systems....